Shopify introduces new technologies and services for retailers at Unite conference

Today, Shopify the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform, unveiled the latest in commerce technology at Unite, their annual conference that brings together their international developer community. Held in Toronto, Canada, Unite saw the participation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"We want to give a voice to all kinds of entrepreneurs around the world,” said Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke. “And that means making it easier for them to run a business and become successful. Unite is when we show the world our progress on this journey, and invite our developer and partner community to join us."

Product announcements focused on helping entrepreneurs in three key areas – selling more, working more efficiently, and making the most of the Shopify partner ecosystem.

Retail is not dead, it’s changing: making retail accessible to every merchant supports a thriving economy.

●      Shopify POS is receiving significant upgrades for retail stores, including multi-channel returns and exchanges, in-store pickup, tipping options, a companion app for a customer-facing checkout experience, and a developer SDK.

●      Introducing a brand new, premium Tap & Chip Reader to transform the in-store shopping experience by accepting all major contactless payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay.

●      Retail specific features will be bundled with the standard Shopify Plan and above at no extra cost.

●      The first-ever Shopify space is opening in 2018 to be a place retailers can visit to help grow their business. This space will be a permanent hub for the best of Shopify’s products, services, and new technology, and a source of support, inspiration, and education for retailers.

Marketing simplification: reducing the complexity of marketing to help business owners sell more.

●      Announcing a new Marketing section in the Shopify dashboard that enables merchants to create, run, and measure all marketing campaigns using their favorite Shopify apps. Merchants will also receive detailed and actionable marketing recommendations, personalized for their products and store.

●      Easy to use Buy One Get One (BOGO) & Quantity discounts join our growing list of promotional tools that allow retailers to apply discounts and incentives based on number of items purchased.

●      Dynamic Checkout surfaces the consumer’s preferred payment method directly on the product page and allows transactions to happen with a single tap using Shopify Pay, Apple Pay, and many more wallets.

Redefining how work gets done: automating and simplifying the back office workflows.

●      Locations, a new feature that allows retailers to manage inventory across multiple locations, creating a more streamlined fulfilment experience.

●      Fraud Protect for Shopify Payments provides opt-in protection for orders processed via Shopify Payments against fraudulent chargebacks, allowing retailers to fulfill more orders with fewer delays.

●      Starting this summer, all Shopify partners and developers will be able to teach Kit new skills, giving merchants access to support beyond marketing via Kit Skills.

●      Shopify Ping, a brand new app designed to streamline and centralize business conversations and marketing activities. Shopify Ping will come with Kit, a virtual employee for our merchants, to help grow their businesses by planning, creating, and managing their marketing.

●      Launching a beta program that offers native language capabilities for merchants in German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Italian.

●      Introducing local payment options, allowing customers to pay using country-specific cashless payment methods, in addition to popular credit card and mobile payment options.

Powered by Partners: Shopify’s extended ecosystem is changing the face of retail.

●      Shopify Services Marketplace will bring Partners and merchants closer together in a one-stop shop that allows merchants to access Partner expertise like website design, marketing, photography and more.

●      The new Shopify App Store prioritizes discovery and generates personalized recommendations, enabling entrepreneurs to make better and faster decisions for their businesses.

●      The entirety of the admin API will be GraphQL-powered, allowing Partners to leverage its speed and efficiency to build faster and more stable apps.

●      Connectors for Shopify Flow enable any app to create proprietary triggers and actions to start and end automated workflows.

For more information, please visit https://unite.shopify.com/press.